The Dover-Sherborn Public Colleges superintendent supplied an replace on a controversial incident involving the sharing of images of younger women within the final faculty 12 months, as mother and father continued to boost considerations over bullying responses at Tuesday evening’s faculty committee assembly.
“Our independent investigator has completed his report,” mentioned Superintendent Elizabeth McCoy. … “At the end of the review, the independent investigator will determine if there is a violation of Title IX, and if so, what consequences are appropriate.”
The replace follows a highly-publicized forwards and backwards between district officers, police and a former faculty committee member in Might. In a widely-circulated electronic mail, former member Colleen Burt mentioned a police investigation and warned mother and father of potential AI-generated express photographs created of center and highschool women.
Responses rapidly got here from Dover Police and the Dover-Sherborn superintendent, who mentioned the e-mail contained info that was “not factual and could be misleading.”
Dover Police mentioned a September investigation revealed male college students had clothed images of their feminine classmates, and one boy disseminated each the images of scholars and “additional nude pictures of an unknown origin in these messages.” Fees had been introduced in juvenile courtroom, however McCoy mentioned they had been finally dismissed.
McCoy mentioned Tuesday an impartial investigator employed by the district after the incident has accomplished seven experiences for every pupil concerned, some 30 pages lengthy, which were shared with the households. The experiences are additionally now being reviewed by the Title IX coordinator and “decision maker in the district” she acknowledged.
Outcomes of the assessment will probably be shared with the households, who could attraction the choice, McCoy mentioned.
Burt attended Tuesday’s Faculty Committee assembly and browse off nameless statements she mentioned mother and father had requested her to share. These included accounts from the mum or dad of an alum who was topic to sexual harassment and a second mum or dad of an eighth grade pupil who was despatched pornography over Snapchat within the spring, stating the district denied her Title IX criticism and “appears to have doubled down on their stance of minimizing victims’ experiences.”
A 3rd nameless assertion got here from the mum or dad of one of many women named as a sufferer within the photo-sharing police investigation in September, Burt learn, and shared extra allegations relating to the incident.
“To brush this under the rug or turn a blind eye is not the solution,” Burt learn. “What message are we sending to these boys, if there’s no discipline for their actions? The message we are sending the victims and other females is that is okay, and boys can get away with it.”
Faculty Committee Chair Angie Johnson raised considerations about sharing particulars of an investigation involving minor kids, citing her historical past as a prosecutor. McCoy additionally acknowledged district officers haven’t seen police experiences from the incident.
Within the 2023-24 faculty 12 months, Dover-Sherborn Public Colleges reported a zero bullying allegations. The prior 12 months, no info on the district’s bullying allegations was included in state information. The district consists of the native center and highschool and simply over 1,000 college students.
McCoy addressed questions of “harassment, bullying and civil rights policies and protocols.”
“We’ve updated our reporting mechanisms for both our own data as well as the state,” mentioned McCoy, following an summary of critiques and deliberate overhauls. “And I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress and will continue to do so, knowing that we owe it to our students and our families.”
